Recent Developments in the General Assembly Session 2018

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The Virginia General Assembly swung into session with a dramatic start but is well underway. Highly contentious topics of debate dominate the floor, including legislation about bump stocks, cannabidiol oil, and Confederate statues. The discussions and conclusions derived from the session are especially relevant to Virginia voters with vested interest in a number of highly controversial topics.

In the Senate, Adam Ebbins’ bill to block the making, possession, sale, and import of bump stocks (or devices to turn a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic weapon) was shut down on a 3-2 vote along party lines in the public safety subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee on January 31st. It had previously passed the Senate Courts of Justice Committee. Senator Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover opposed the bill on financial grounds. Other Republicans felt that the federal government ought to regulate the sale and possession of bump stocks, and that the matter should not become a topic of discussion at a state level. Senate Democrats did not find this line of reasoning compelling, but the bill was blocked regardless. The House had already killed a similar bill along party lines. The failure of both bills came in spite of an emotional testimony from Cortney Carroll, a Henrico resident who survived the deadly Las Vegas shooting in 2017.

Both the House and the Senate unanimously passed identical bills improving access to cannabidiol oil, or THC-A oil. Due to procedural policies of the Virginia legislature, each bill will have to pass in the opposite branch before being signed into law by Governor Northam. The earliest this might occur is February 13th, also known as “crossover day.” Since both sides of the legislature passed identical bills, and the legislature believes Gov. Ralph Northam is friendly to marijuana reform, the bills are likely to become law. The bills allow doctors to prescribe cannabidiol oil for any diagnosed condition, and allow pharmaceutical processors to dispense up to 90 days worth of THC-A oil.

In both the House and the Senate, every bill concerning the relocation/removal of Confederate monuments has been voted down in both committees and subcommittees. This includes a proposed bill from House Minority Leader David Toscano to allow localities to decide the fate of civil war monuments. The Charlottesville monument, located in the district Toscano represents, has been blocked temporarily by a judge. This action will most likely be appealed and could conceivably be heard in the Supreme Court of Virginia. Nevertheless, the present climate suggests that 2018 is unlikely to bring any changes on legislation about Confederate monuments, despite prominence of the issue in the most recent local election cycle.